Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Royal Oak: Bulova Octagon

Rare Bulova Royal Oak

This is how a Royak Oak tree looks like......

For watch enthusiasts, a lot of time Royal Oak means this.......

and this is what we are talking about today........

There is little information about this watch. I believe this is from the late 1970's or early 1980's. Regarding this watch, there are two sides of the story..... I called them the fairy tale and the ultimate cruel truth.....

Everybody like the good old fairy tales....... Found this picture of Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf.....

The story goes.... Legendary watch designer Mr Gerald Genta was working for Bulova when he designed the Royal Oak. Bulova was producing the Royal Oak before Audemars Piguet. So the Bulove Royal Oak is the ancestor of the design and is so rare..... When Gerald Genta joined Audemars Piguet, he took the design of Royal Oak over. In April 1972, at the Basel Watch Show, Audemars Piguet launched the Royal Oak which eventually become a huge international success. AP Royal Oaks become one of the most iconic watches ever. Like all fairy tales, you need to believe to live happily ever after.....

Now back to the real world scenario, this Bulova is a homage to AP's Royal Oak. The copycat, the look alike, the legitimate replica and so on..... But they served a very noble purpose. To let those who love the Royal Oak design, be able to wear one without having to pay the hefty price.

This is a exceptional piece of artwork. It is a luxurious looking steel watch with integrated bracelet characterized by a daring and revolutinary design. The watch case and the bracelet are all stainless steel. The watch is measuring 36mm excluding the crown. Bulova paid great attention to the details on this model.

Its Guillochie dial has aged to a beautiful champagne creamy colour. The dial is decorated with gold coloured batons served as hour markers, date aperture at three o'clock position. Bulova's gold tuning forks logo complement the classical dial perfectly.

The satin finish stainless steel case fitted to a same finishing stainless steel link bracelet with folding clasp. The bracelet are screwed fitted at the lugs. All the bracelet links are screwed together. Ouch... I just notice a missing screw and a loose link....

The clasp is signed with a Bulova's tuning fork logo

A disruptive and downright revolutionary timepiece, the Royal Oak is immediately recognizable thanks to its state-of-the-art engineered case, and octagonal bezel secured by eight hexagonal screws. This watch has a gold plated chamfered bezel. All the eight screws on the bezel are lined-up contiguously. The watch is fitted with a flat mineral crystal with scratch resistant. The original crown looked like those of AP's Royal Oak, mine is just a replacement that looks utmost awful......

The back of the case is sandblasted. The backcase is screw in type and at the center is a decorative engraving of a female ballet dancer.

This watch is dated back to the late 1970's or early 1980's. It uses the older Eta 2982 17 Jewels automatic movement with brass finishing. The rotor is marked with " BULOVA 1432.10 Seventeen 17 Jewels SWISS N9". ETA 2892 is consider a upscale ETA movement and has an amplitude of 28,800 bph and a power reserve of 42 hours.

Apart from Royal Oak, Charles Gérald Genta (1931-2011) also created IWC's Ingenieur, Patek Philippe's Nautilus, Omega's Constellation, Cartier's Pasha de Cartier, just to name a few. But the Royal Oak was the true masterpiece of his career.